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britishcouncil.org/professionals.htm. © The British Council, 2008. The United ...
LearnEnglish Professionals CONFERENCE CALLS AUDIOSCRIPT
Listen to this excerpt from a conference call organised by Softcell Incorporated and led by their Senior Director of Investor Relations, Marie Tascon. Optional activity: While you listen, try the following general comprehension questions. The answers are below the script. 1) The main purpose of this conference call is: a) To discuss trends in the market b) To inform market analysts about a company c) To market a company’s products 2) How would you describe the representatives of Softcell as they respond to questions during the conference call? a) Confident b) Nervous c) Embarrassed 3) You hear five questions during the call. Circle the topic areas covered in the questions from the list below. economic recession comparison of sales in Europe and the US
losses competitors
seasonal changes product sales
outlets in Asia margins
Operator: Good morning. Welcome to the Softcell Incorporated first quarter 2008 quarterly results conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode, but the floor will be open for your questions following the introductory remarks. I’d now like to turn the conference over to Ms. Marie Tascon, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, madam. Marie Tascon: Good morning. Thanks for joining us. Speaking today is Softcell’s CFO Peter Goody, joined by COO Jim W. Brook for the Q&A session with analysts. Please note that the information you’ll hear during our discussion today may consist of forward-looking statements regarding revenue and margins. Actual results could differ materially from our forecast. To view the supporting slides while listening, log on to softcell.com/investor. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Peter Goody. Peter Goody: Thank you, Marie. It’s good to be on this call to report our best quarter ever, with the highest revenue and earnings in Softcell’s history. Revenue grew 35% year over year to $9.6 billion, an increase of almost $2.5 billion over the previous December quarter’s record-breaking results. [Fade] Peter Goody: In closing, we believe these outstanding results reflect the excellence of our innovative products. We are very enthusiastic about our announcements for 2008, including new SoftTalk software and an updated SoftPro. Marie Tascon: With that, I’d like to open the call to questions. Please limit yourselves to one question only. [Question-and-Answer Session] Operator: Our first question will come from the line of Jane Bratworth with Morgan Stanley. Jane Bratworth: On the SoftTalk expectations for 2008, are you guys providing any type of update today? Jim W. Brook: We remain very sure about hitting the 10 million goal for 2008. Operator: The next question comes from Ahmed Jamal with Merrill Lynch.
www.britishcouncil.org/professionals.htm © The British Council, 2008 The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
LearnEnglish Professionals CONFERENCE CALLS AUDIOSCRIPT
Ahmed Jamal – Merrill Lynch: Jim, in terms of the SoftTalk rollout internationally, there’s been a lot of talk about China -- anything specific relative to the China market? Jim W. Brook: We open our first stores in China this year. We’ll also be rolling out additional European countries during 2008. Operator: Next question from Kurt Abramsky with Deutsche Bank. Kurt Abramsky – Deutsche Bank: Could you give us any, either quantitative or qualitative, commentary on how European Softtalk uptake is faring versus your U.S. experience? Jim W. Brook: Kurt, you know, we just launched in France in November and in the U.K. and Germany a bit earlier so we have very limited experience but we are very happy with all the launches so far. Operator: The next question comes from Jeanne Beauvoir with Credit Suisse. Jeanne Beauvoir - Credit Suisse: Peter, is it too early to offer a little more colour on the SoftTalk seasonality question. Your guidance obviously implies seasonality for the whole company, Peter Goody: We’ve not yet been through a March quarter with SoftTalk so we don’t have any history to go by as we do with other products. We can report in April. Fade Marie Tascon: Time for just one final question. Operator: And that will come from Tim Lu with Goldman Sachs. Tim Lu - Goldman Sachs: I’d like to ask you, Peter, about your overall market guidance. It’s good to hear you are not seeing any weakness. I understand your products are unlikely to be in the most economically exposed segment, but is there likely to be some exposure if we see, for example, a recession in Europe as well as the U.S. In your 10% growth forecast have you assumed some kind of economic weakening within Europe specifically? Peter Goody: The 10% is based pretty much on a very concrete situation, how we see the trends. It’s something that we feel is quite solid. Marie Tascon: Thanks very much, Tim and thanks to everyone. A replay of today’s call will be available as a webcast on softcell.com/investor and via telephone. The number for the telephone replay is 989-313-2111 and the passcode is 5237883. Replays will be available at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time today. Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s presentation. We thank everyone for your participation and have a wonderful day.
Answer key: 1 b ; 2 a; 3 product sales, outlets in Asia, comparison of sales in Europe and the US, seasonal changes, economic recession
www.britishcouncil.org/professionals.htm © The British Council, 2008 The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
